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Nones, Dones and Religionless Christianity, Part 2

10/21/2016

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This post is part 2 in a series on Dietrich Bonhoeffer, nones, dones and religionless Christianity. Part 1 can be found here.

In the last post, we left off with the question, "Can we speak meaningfully about God without religion?" For Bonhoeffer, religious language is often a mask or a shield that protects us from saying what we actually mean. It allows us to hide ignorance behind certitude:

“Religious people speak of God when human knowledge (perhaps simply because they are too lazy to think) has come to an end, or when human resources fail — in fact it is always the deus ex machina that they bring on to the scene, either for the apparent solution of insoluble problems, or as strength in human failure — always, that is to say, exploiting human weakness or human boundaries. Of necessity, that can go on only till people can by their own strength push these boundaries somewhat further out, so that God becomes superfluous as a deus ex machina.”

Deus ex machina literally translated is, “God from the machine.” This is a reference to ancient Greek plays, where at the end of a play, sometimes a god would be lowered from onto the stage by a crane to resolve loose plot twists. If Bonhoeffer was writing today, he might use the phrase “God of the gaps.”

An illustration may make this clearer: Prior to modern medicine people thought illness was caused by the “black magic” of the devil. Spiritual problems require spiritual solutions, so of course, people appealed to God for help through the “magic” of the church: taking communion, being anointed with holy water or oil, or being blessed by a pastor or priest (for more on this, Charles Taylor’s A Secular Age is a must-read). When the germ theory of disease was finally accepted in the late 1800s, it changed the way people thought about God. We no longer needed to appeal to the devil to explain why we were sick, and we no longer needed direct intervention from God to explain our recovery. The gap we once filled with God, we now fill with knowledge.

But a God of the gaps is no God at all. If we appeal to the divine to explain things we don’t yet understand, what will happen when human knowledge increases and we gain a scientific explanation? When doctors perform thousands of surgeries flawlessly, when antibiotics turn once fatal illnesses into minor inconveniences (take two pills, twice a day for three weeks), desperate prayers for miraculous intervention are gradually replaced with lesser prayers that God would “guide the doctor’s hands,” or that “the medicine would work,” until ultimately, these prayers disappear completely.

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Andy Warhol's Religious Pop Art

4/2/2016

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I first encountered Andy Warhol's as a freshman in college. A friend, an art student, invited me to an art show at Michigan State University where one of Warhol's Campbell's Soup Cans was on exhibit. I was aware of his work, but had never encountered it in person, and it made an impression: All the way home my friend and I argued about what constitutes "art." Warhol had hit a nerve. I was adamant that we were being conned, that pop art was a cheap trick and someone was taking advantage of our naiveté. My friend couldn't make up her mind one way or the other. I let the issue rest for several years, until another of Warhol’s pieces caught my eye. I was doing a Masters degree in theology at the time, when I became intrigued by Warhol's “The Big C.” 

Andy Warhol was an anomaly at a time when people still believed in a mass-produced American dream. Although he was not outspoken enough to be a preacher, through his art he became a prophet ushering in a new America. Warhol prompted questions in viewers by rebelling against the standards of the time. Taking preexisting cultural images like a Campbell's Soup can or a photo of Marilyn Monroe, he presented them back to the American public as art. These common images were transformed into icons mediating between the way viewers’ perceived themselves and the way they acted within culture.

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The Two Best Moments in the 2016 Presidential Election

3/6/2016

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This presidential election is by far the craziest that I've witnessed in my 30 years on this planet. If you've been around longer and can remember another election season that comes even close, please leave a comment, I'd really be interested (apparently some of the Founding Father's could have held their own with Trump). But despite the name-calling and theatrics happening in the Republican debates recently, there have been some bright lights. 

-JEB!, regarding dialogue and treating others with respect, even across party lines:
 JEB!: "I don't think Barack Obama has bad motives. I just think he's wrong on a lot of issues... If you start with the premise that people have good motives, you can find common ground."

JEB! also points out that the divisiveness we've been seeing in Washington isn't present at the state and local level.

America needs more leaders who can admit this. I suspect that behind the scenes even Washington politicians get along better than the media portrays. 

-Bernie Sanders on religion:
"I worry very much about a society where some people say spiritually, 'It doesn't matter to me. I got it [right]. I don't care about other people.' My spirituality is, we are all in this together. When children go hungry, when veterans sleep out on the street, it impacts me."

I'll leave it to the economists to prove whether or not Democratic Socialism has any real possibility of remedying these problems, but you don't have to agree with Bernie's politics  to agree with his sentiments (I would point you to JEB!'s quote above). This idea is at the heart of Christianity:  "Religion that God accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world" (James 1:27). And as Bernie has pointed out in other places, it's also present in Judaism: "Love your neighbor as yourself; I am the L-RD... The stranger who resides with you shall be to you as one of your citizens; you shall love him as yourself, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt: I the L-RD am your God." (Leviticus 19:18, 34). And in Islam: "None of you [truly] believes until he wishes for his brother what he wishes for himself" (An-Nawawi’s Forty, 13, 56, Hadith); "Seek for mankind that of which you are desirous for yourself, that you may be a believer" (Sukhanan-i-Muhammad, Teheran, 1938). To see examples from other religions, click here.

These are the bright lights I've seen this election, I'm sure there are others. Let's learn from them how to respect people on the other side of the aisle, and let's work together to care for those who are most vulnerable in our country, and in our world.
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This Might Be Your Life's Greatest Gift...

10/21/2015

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Global life expectancy is on the rise. Since 1990, life expectancy has increased from 65.3 to 71.5. Over the next decade and a half, it is expected to climb another ten years to 81. This average includes countries like the U.S. that have seen a steady increase every year since at least the 1930s, as well as areas like East Asia where life expectancy skyrocketed by thirty years in a short period of time. In other words, it's a great time to be alive!

While unexpected deaths still occur even in the most developed countries, they are not nearly as common as they have been throughout history. Accidents, diseases, and infections that once caused sudden death can now be cured or prevented, and despite public perception, deaths caused by war have been in steady decline since the end of the Cold War. As a result, people are are not only living longer, they are dying slower. Medicine and modern health care are able to detect the signs of fatal maladies early on and often slow their progression, effectively easing us gently into the ground. ​

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You Don't Have to Feel Guilty About Feeling Good

10/10/2015

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Recently, a friend told me he was really excited about a new yoga class he was going to, but after a few weeks he started feeling guilty about going. I asked him why, and he said that yoga made him feel uncomfortably selfish. "Yoga makes my mind and body so relaxed and invigorated at the same time, I would do it every day if I could. But that's the problem. I feel selfish doing something that's 'just for me."

The implication is that if something makes me feel that good, it must be wrong. I must be stealing a good from someone else to make it happen. 

Maybe you feel that way. You have a favorite activity that makes you feel alive and awake, like the world is a good and beautiful place to exist. But at the same time, you feel a nagging guilty feeling. Somewhere in your past, a parent, a mentor, a spiritual leader or teacher told you that you were being selfish. That you should be more responsible. That there is no room for passion and play in the adult world. 

We all carry these wounds. Sometimes they were inflicted by people with the best of intentions: "Give up on music, and get a real job. You'll never make it anyways." "Travel is a waste of time." It can even be something small, like "Don't paint your apartment, you're just going to have to repaint it when you move out" (I'm guilty of that one). This kind of advice often comes from people who foreclosed on their own dreams a long time ago, and you might be bringing up old hurts with your dreams. Squishing your dreams with "reality" is less painful than mourning the dreams they gave up a long time ago.

But the universe is not a zero sum game. Pursuing your passions doesn't mean you are being irresponsible or neglecting some greater good in society. It's not a pie with a limited amount of slices. When you do something that makes you feel alive, you're not stealing the last slice of goodness from someone who doesn't have any. Nothing could be farther from the truth. The universe is expanding. When you pursue your passions, whether it's yoga, higher education, art, music, gardening or any number of other things, you are creating good in the world and in yourself. The books you enjoy only exist because someone shut themselves away for a few months to pound out their ideas on a keyboard. The art class you are taking is only possible because someone devoted themselves to a craft and became an expert through years of practice. The spiritual leaders whose wisdom keeps you on track cultivate their thoughts in solitude and prayer.

This is not a new idea. The greatest men and women in history have understood this. You have nothing to offer humanity, if you yourself are empty and shallow.
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It's the same principle lifeguards use when saving people in the ocean, or that flight attendants tell you on airplanes in case of emergency. You have to take care of yourself to care for others. As you seek wonder and experience beauty, you will become an oasis that draws and nourishes others. When you treat yourself to something that makes you feel alive, you are doing something that heals and gives life to the soul. You are not selfish, you are bringing joy to the world. It is only by being yourself, that you have anything to offer. It is in your passion, as you flourish, that you can best love your neighbor and help them flourish.

Take care of yourself. Fill the world with life. Live in freedom, and make the world a better place.
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It's Time to Rethink "Judgement"

9/28/2015

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​​In Reflections on the Psalms, C.S. Lewis points out that westerners have been largely spared an age-old experience regarding our legal system. 
​"In most times and places it has been very difficult for the 'small man' to get his case heard. The judge (and doubtless, one or two of his underlings) has to be bribed. If you can't afford to 'oil his palm,' your case will never reach court. Our judges do not receive bribes. (We probably take this blessing too much for granted; it will not remain with us automatically). We need not therefore be surprised if the Psalms, and the Prophets are full of the longing for judgment, and regard the announcement that "judgement" is coming as good news. Hundreds and thousands of people who have been stripped of all they possess and who have the right entirely on their side will at last be heard. They know their case is unanswerable- if only it could be heard. When God comes to judge, at last it will."

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Seeking a Friend for the End of the World (2012)

8/30/2015

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What would you do if you only had three weeks to live? Everyone has toyed with answers to this question, but few wrestle with their answers as seriously as writer/director Lorene Scafaria in the 2012 film, Seeking a Friend for the End of the World. Don’t let the casting fool you. Comedian Steve Carrell (Michael Scott in the Office) plays the lead, across from Keira Knightley, but if this is a comedy, it still leaves you sober. I don't remember laughing, but I definitely cried.

With just weeks to live, some people would be checking off their bucket list, traveling to exotic locations and chasing final adventures. Others might opt out of the whole experience with a simple suicide note. Surely at least a few would pull out sandwich boards and megaphones to proclaim "The end is near!" All of these responses appear in this movie, but Seeking a Friend for the End of the World is about something more, something timeless. The haunting hollowness that so many feel, but few admit except in the face of death: Loneliness.

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Soundtracks: The Music of our Religion (Reflections onĀ Gustavo Santaolalla)

7/5/2015

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In a recent episode of On Being, Krista Tippett noted that, "Soundtracks, for some of us, become the music of our church." Where churches, temples and mosques function as communal gathering places to reflect and be transformed through encounters with the divine, to those who have ears to hear, the theater is a place where inspired storytelling experiences become vehicles for the Transcendent. 

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